Asked and Answered

By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Q. I am the managing partner of a 12-lawyer insurance defense firm in Oklahoma City. We have four partners and eight associates. While we have grown over the last five or six years by adding associates, our profitability has remained flat. We feel that we are not getting the billable hours that we should out of our associates. What are other firms like ours getting out of their associates in terms of billable hours?

Learn which alternative dispute resolution options are available in the three districts, how the programs are administered, and how to take advantage of each with this informative one-hour online seminar on May 18, 2016! Practitioners with basic to intermediate practice experience who handle (or have contemplated handling) civil litigation in any of the Illinois Federal District Courts who attend this live webcast will better understand: court-hosted mediation and how the local rules/procedures differ; special programs and procedures for pro se cases; Judge-hosted mediation and referrals to a panel mediator; opening statements; facilitative vs. evaluative mediation; pitfalls to avoid during mediation; knowing which documents are prepared on the spot, and which procedures follow the settlement, including statement of terms on the record and its impact on confidentiality; jurisdiction issues; and much more!

By Teri Ross, Program Director / Attorney, Illinois Legal Aid Online

The legal system is scary, confusing, and nearly impossible to navigate without an attorney. Yet every year millions of people in Illinois face serious legal problems on their own because they can't afford to hire a lawyer. In some rural counties of the state, there are only a handful of attorneys, and no legal aid lawyers, which compounds the problem and makes it less likely that people will be able to solve their legal problems.

The Illinois Supreme Court will take its work on the road in May, when it will hear oral arguments at Benedictine University in Lisle.

The one-day change of venue is part of the Court's and Chief Justice Rita B. Garman's initiative to bring the Court to the people it serves and its continuing goal for greater transparency in the judicial process.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases starting at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 19, 2016, in Benedictine University's Daniel L. Goodwin Hall of Business, located at 5700 College Road in Lisle.

Attorney David Holtermann of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois discusses recent rules changes to handling unidentified funds in IOLTA accounts.

Michael J. Warner, a partner in the personal injury law firm of Warner & Zimmerle, in Rock Island, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Illinois Bar Foundation (IBF), the charitable arm of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), and will serve a two-year term.

The Foundation raises funds for distribution to Illinois nonprofit organizations whose mission is to provide free legal services to those with limited means. It also provides assistance to lawyers who can no longer support themselves due to incapacity. The Foundation also oversees the Illinois JusticeCorps program, which provides trained part-time student volunteers to serve as guides in courthouses. This year, the Foundation will distribute more than $850,000 in funds.

Warner has been a lawyer in private practice since 1972 after serving for a year in the Rock Island State’s Attorneys Office. He has been a member of the Rock Island Bar Association since 1971. He was a board member of the Mississippi Valley Alzheimer’s Association and is a past president of the Rock Island County Mental Health Board.

Voting in the ISBA election ends at 4:30 PM CT Friday, April 29. Ballots were distributed to all eligible voters* on March 28, 2016. ISBA's election provider VR Election Services (VRES) emailed e-ballots to members with valid email addresses and mailed paper ballots to members without valid email addresses on Monday, March 28, 2016.

If you have not received your e-ballot, please ask your Information Technology (IT) person to check the email spam folder under the suffix "vres.us" to see if your e-ballot is there. IT can adjust the spam filter settings to allow the e-ballot to reach you. If your e-ballot is not in your spam folder, please contact VRES at 800-218-4026 or custserv@vres.us.

Your e-ballot will contain instructions on how to cast your vote electronically. If you prefer to vote by paper ballot, you may request one by contacting VRES at 800-218-4026 or custserv@vres.us. The last day to request a paper ballot was Friday, April 15.

All eligible voters* may vote for Third Vice President. Those with ISBA addresses that fall in one of the following districts/circuits are also eligible to vote in their respective Board of Governors race. Candidate bios can be viewed in the March Illinois Bar Journal.

Cook County: First Judicial District Board of Governors

Judicial Circuits 1-23: Under Age 37 outside Cook County Board of Governors.

Attorney Kim Davis discusses how to give an effective closing argument.

The International Academy of Dispute Resolution honored ISBA Past President Fred Lane and CBA Past President Joseph Stone with Lifetime Achievement Awards and the Alliance of Bar Associations, administered by ISBA and Chicago Office Administrator Joyce Williams, with a Special Recognition at its Gala on April 13 at the Standard Club in Chicago.

View more images from this event in the photo gallery at  iln.isba.org/gallery/1028/inadr-gala-2016

People reporting for jury service at the Rolling Meadows courthouse in the Circuit Court of Cook County will now have Wi-Fi access while they wait to find out if they will be considered to serve as jurors for a trial, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced today.

Prospective jurors already have Wi-Fi access in the Richard J. Daley Center, the Leighton Criminal Court Building and the courthouse in Markham.

The Circuit Court is working with the Cook County Bureau of Technology to bring Wi-Fi to the jury assembly rooms at the Skokie, Maywood and Bridgeview courthouses.